Florida or Arizona? If you had to decide on a warm place to spend winter?

If you could, would you go to Florida or Arizona to escape the winter states?

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
A

Aprilbday12

Member
What do you think? Arizona or Florida for 5 or 6 months out of the year to escape the cold climate states? Florida is swampy has gators, Arizona losing water and has fires. Which one do you like?
 

Maintaining two homes would be nothing but additional work, worry, and expense for me.

I would prefer to take a vacation and be free to select different locations rather than be tied to a permanent second home.

The truth is that I haven’t had the desire to take a vacation since retiring in 2005.

I’m content to live in Central New York year round.

Now that I’m retired I can deal with winter on my terms and it really doesn’t bother me.
 
Florida for sure (but NC is my 1st choice). Although my sister and her family live in AZ.

Arizona is a bit dry for me all the time and they have:
Gila Monster...saw one in the desert
Africanized Bee (Killer Bee)...saw a huge hive, bees swarming around the hive on a walk but unsure as to what kind of bee it was
Scorpion...saw one in a drawer in my sisters house
Arizona Coral Snake
Black Widow Spider
Sonoran Desert Toad
Banded Desert Centipede
Mojave Rattlesnake...saw one
Tarantula...my daughter saw one in the desert

In all fairness, Florida does have Alligators, and Sharks, but I've never seen them there except when we drove to the swampland specifically for the purpose of seeing an alligator...it was a tourist destination. But I do know from the news that there are rare confrontations with them.
And Florida also has mosquitos

I think Florida has the largest population of retirees for a reason. I was born in Ft Lauderdale FL. It's often listed as the best place for retirees to live, you pay less in taxes than any other state. If it gets hot you go indoors with the AC on or the mall. You have pools and the ocean breeze outside. There is culture, shopping, lots to do. It's level so no worries of sliding on ice down your driveway in winter.

I met a man yesterday who lives in The Villages for part of the year. Some like it some don't. He says he's in the Western Village and loves it for all it's choices of activities and making friends. But there are many different Villages with varying prices to choose from like the Key West
Village (more expensive).

If I ever left the beach of NC then I would choose Asheville NC in a valley surrounded by mountains so weather is mild. Winter brings a light snow but not much accumulation. Beautifully green. But they do have a homeless problem in the Brewery district (and loud music in bars). Oh and they have some ticks and mosquitoes there. There are super nice neighborhoods without issues though.

Beaches of NC are my top picks....only problem is hurricanes. But the locals just don't care that much. You evacuate, you return, you repair, you go on from where you left off. My house is almost complete there...built to survive. We'll see.
 
We have lived in both FL and AZ. After living in AZ we returned to Fl, where the winters are milder and the summers are not as hot.
In AZ we knew people that were snowbirds without leaving the state. They wintered in the valley near Phoenix and went up to the high country for the summers.
Most of the area in the 4 corners belongs to the Navajos.
In FL we could go sailing year round, and could go camping much of the year.
 
I will be wintering in Hawaii this year, but between the two states mentioned, Florida. It will take you a long time until you run out of things to see and do. There are so much to see and several things to do and if you enjoy being around the water, that even adds additional things to do.
 
squatting dog said:
Just remember.................. :ROFLMAO:

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When i was a kid in Ruskin, Fl on the Little Manattee River my Dad bought a 25 ft cabin boat that needed extensive cleaning and repairs. We dug a ramp from river's edge and hauled it up with a winch using logs as rollers. Took a while, weeks, to finish and launch.

Several nights we heard awful noises coming from the ramp area but living rural chalked it up to critters bickering. Then one morning Dad got up earlier. I've always awakened at first light unless ill. I heard Dad walking past our bedroom to the ramp. Then he laughed, called to Mom. I went too.

There, nestled between the raised boat and side of ramp was rhe biggest gator any of us had seen. Dad marked the dirt even with each end of it just before it backed to the stern of the boat, turned, entered the river and swam for the uninhabited island across from us.

The space between the marks measured 8 ft and Dad said he looked old (tho i don't what that means in an alligator). He came back and snored repeatedly. But now we knew what that racket was and we made jokes about 'Grandpa Gator' waking everyone up with it.
 
Aprilbday12 said:
What do you think? Arizona or Florida for 5 or 6 months out of the year to escape the cold climate states? Florida is swampy has gators, Arizona losing water and has fires. Which one do you like?
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It's plenty warm where I'm at in Calif, so I don't have a winter to escape from. I've lived in Ariz. I didn't like it there at all.
It'd be great to visit Florida for a while.
 
I lasted about a month in Florida. Sand fleas, land crabs, gators, humidity. I wasn't there long enough to suffer through a hurricane, thank all that is holy.

Never lived in Arizona, only drove over to visit family for lunch or when passing through on the way from California to where we lived in New Mexico. Yeah. We'd drive 300 miles to have lunch with my aunt and uncle. It was in the days when the speed limit was 85mph. The road was mostly straight and the area so sparsely populated that it just wasn't a problem to zip on over for a short visit and be back home before dark.

There's an aura in New Mexico that can't be described. You have to live there to understand. I've lived all over the states, in Hawaii, and in Europe. New Mexico is hands down the most special place I've ever lived. Sigh. Now I've made myself homesick.
 
Georgiagranny said:
I lasted about a month in Florida. Sand fleas, land crabs, gators, humidity. I wasn't there long enough to suffer through a hurricane, thank all that is holy.

Never lived in Arizona, only drove over to visit family for lunch or when passing through on the way from California to where we lived in New Mexico. Yeah. We'd drive 300 miles to have lunch with my aunt and uncle. It was in the days when the speed limit was 85mph. The road was mostly straight and the area so sparsely populated that it just wasn't a problem to zip on over for a short visit and be back home before dark.

There's an aura in New Mexico that can't be described. You have to live there to understand. I've lived all over the states, in Hawaii, and in Europe. New Mexico is hands down the most special place I've ever lived. Sigh. Now I've made myself homesick.
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Oh, how I loved your posting! 85 on open highway sounds thrilling. I got homesick just reading that nostalgic throw-back about lunch with your aunt and uncle. I’ll have to visit New Mexico!
 
I know you want me to make a choice, but I'd rather not. I spent a year and a half in GTMO, Cuba. It was 84 and sunny in the daytime and 72 at night-day after day. The weather never changed. I really missed the seasons changing. And it just doesn't feel like Xmas, if you're walking around in a tee and shorts. Snowy winter isn't all that long in Pennsylvania. And even if winter is a bit of a hassle, in 93 days it's going to be a different season anyway. Plus, you have to gripe about something, and winter is always a good culprit.
 
Florida has the beautiful beaches, the spectacular rainstorms and sunsets, and many tourist attractions. Northern AZ has some beautiful country and the Grand Canyon. Southern AZ is way too hot, but I guess in the winter it wouldn't be bad. I think I'd have to go with Florida for the beaches, though.
 
I used to winter in Yuma, Arizona when I was RV'ing. Lots and lots of RV parks and plenty of things that seniors need. A few golf courses, but that's not my thing. The only trees I remember are various palms that have been transplanted from other areas. From Oct to March, not a bit hot. cool evenings just right for lounging in the RV park hot tub.
I don't know if it still this way , but it used to be very easy to cross-over to Los Algodones, Mexico and stock up on cheap liquor and cigarettes etc. While I was there, a rumor circulated about a Canadian who filled his RV water tank up with liquor , but, as the rumor goes, Canadian customs caught him.
 

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